I Need You
by theperksofbeingbeth
Summary: Lisa thought she had finally gotten rid of Jackson, but he catches up with her again and this time he needs her help whether she likes it or not. Will it end like it did before?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

The first thing people noticed about Jackson Rippner were his eyes. They were solely blue: bright, piercing blue. They were smooth, much like his personality and I guess that's why he caught people's eye. Well, that's why he caught my eye. You see, when he looked into my plain hazel eyes, it felt like he uncovered things that no one else could see. I may as well have been standing there naked right in front of him, that's how those eyes made me feel. Not that I wanted to be naked in front of him after finding out he was using me to carry out an assassination and after I stabbed him in the neck with a pen.

It had been 2 weeks since the incident and it was still difficult to sleep at night. That sounds kind of cliché I suppose but every time I closed my eyes, I could just picture his expression as he brushed over the 5 inch scar on my chest. He saw the scar, I told him what happened and he still tried to kill me. Bastard. Despite the fact that I hated him, I still remembered how I was drawn to him. He was charming and funny. He wore a nicely fitted suit and his hair was almost perfect. But this was all part of the persona, I knew that now. Under all that bullshit, he was just another lying, manipulative son of a bitch. The strange thing was that I never really felt scared of him. He was a violent man, I wasn't stupid enough to breeze over that but somehow I knew he could never kill me. There was a sensitivity that came with the violence. But like I told him on that flight, I was a people pleaser. I was always desperate to find the good in people even after I was constantly shown otherwise. What he did was unforgivable but in the end, I chose not to listen to logic.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two 

(Thank you for the feedback on the last chapter, much appreciated . I know it seemed kind of short/unfinished but that's because it was more of an introduction type chapter, this one's longer!)

It was a Wednesday evening and work had been a nightmare. A severe lack of sleep and rude customers did not mix however much caffeine I had desperately consumed. It was dark out when I left the building and headed towards the parking lot. All I could think about was going home and having a warm bath. The hotel had been perfectly air-conditioned all day but the air outside was thick and stifling. I reached the car and began searching through my bag for my keys. My auburn hair had tumbled in front of my face so I was unaware of him standing in front of me until I felt strong hands on my waist. He grabbed me, pushing me against the side of my car. He pressed himself close against me and leaned forward to whisper in my ear.

"Missed you, Leese."

My head instantly snapped up at the sound of his voice and my legs turned numb. My stomach was doing about a million flips a minute while my head began to feel fuzzy. I was frozen to the spot, just staring at the smirk that had formed on his lips. I hated the way he called me Leese instead of Lisa, as if we'd been friends for years. After the initial shock had passed, I began trying to wiggle my way out of his grasp, flailing my arms frantically.

"Oh no, you don't." He growled, grabbing my wrists and pinning them to the car.

"W-what are you doing here, Jackson?" I turned my face away, attempting to avoid his gaze but he grabbed my chin, forcing me to look at him. He was centimetres away from my face.

"What you didn't miss me?" He pouted, feigning sadness.

"Yeah, right. Asshole doesn't even begin to describe you." He narrowed his eyes but the smirk never left his lips.

"I need you." My heart was thumping violently in my chest. To anyone else, that would have sounded like a loving sentence but to me, it was vomit-inducing.

"Why?"

"Well, I can't tell you that." His breath was soft and warm on my cheek.

"Then you can shove it." He laughed, but there was no humour in it.

"Oh, Leese. Why so angry? Anyway, you're coming with me whether you like it or not."

_Yeah fucking right. _Deciding that no way in hell was I going anywhere with Jackson Rippner, I brought my leg up and kneeled him hard in the crotch. His eyes bulged and the grip on my arms loosened, giving me a chance to run for it. I guess he must be pretty used to being kicked in the balls, seeing as I'd only got a few paces before he got hold of my arms. He pulled me back, pushing me into him. He laughed, causing a million shivers to shoot down my spine.

"You really think it's that easy to get rid of me, Leese? If I remember correctly, last time you had to stab a pen in my neck to get away. Thanks for that by the way."

"You deserved it. You're a monster, Jack." I remembered from the plane how much he hated being called Jack and revelled in saying it.

"Yeah, yeah, so you've told me." I felt him roll his eyes, as if what he'd done was nothing. Something felt different about him this time. His voice wasn't snarling and evil, he'd softened up a bit. It made me wonder why this time. Maybe he'd realised his violent approach was useless. Before I could do anything, he'd pinned my hands behind my back and tied them up with some kind of rope.

"Jackson, please. Please not again." He ignored this and instead marched me to his truck. Opening the passenger door, he shoved me in. He leaned over and did up my seatbelt before slamming the door closed.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three (thank you to the people taking the time to review, bless you all, it means a lot!)

We'd already been driving for about an hour. I had no idea where he was taking me and he'd kept quiet, even though I'd constantly asked questions. I'd given up by now and rested my head against the window. I could feel him glance at me every so often but I refused to look at him. When I did eventually look over, his jaw was clenched and his hands were gripped firmly on the steering wheel. His eyes stayed unflinching and focused on the road ahead.

"Jackson, where are you taking me?" He let out a sigh and rolled his eyes, a quirk that had become extremely common in the past hour.

"Jesus. What is this, 20 questions? It's too late to do anything that I need you to do so we're going to stop for the night." He turned to me briefly, signally that it was all he was going to say.

"Stop where?"

"Leese."

"You can't take me hostage and not expect me to ask questions, Jackson." I was becoming annoyed by now. How did he expect me just to go along with whatever he was planning? The last time he had a plan, it was for me to help kill a family.

"I think saying that I'm taking you hostage is a bit of an exaggeration."

"You have rope tied around my hands!"

"You haven't stabbed a pen in my neck yet so clearly you're not that bothered." There was a silence. I knew that he expected me to shoot back something witty but I didn't.

"Jackson, please don't hurt me like last time." My voice was so quiet I didn't know if he heard me. I knew he did though because his expression changed. Was it, regret? No, not possible. He was a monster. A cold, manipulative monster. I was greeted with silence this time as he pulled up somewhere and parked.

"I'm not going to hurt you if you don't do anything stupid like last time, okay?" He slowly undid the rope, giving me a warning look. He opened the door and jogged round to my side. Instead of dragging me out of the car like I expected, he held out his hand and waited for me to take it. I did and we walked to the front of the hotel hand in hand, as if we were a loving couple. It was almost laughable how wrong that was.

Jackson had paid for the room in advance so he signed some papers and was given the key. We reached the door and he pushed it open, revealing a fairly nice hotel room. I had expected some seedy motel type scene but it wasn't bad. The only problem I had was the bed. I was going to have to sleep in a bed with him? I would have laughed if it wasn't so awful.

"I'm not sleeping in a bed with you."

"Leese, you don't have much choice unless you wanna sleep in that chair." He pointed towards a dusty wooden chair in the corner of the room. I grimaced at him.

"Pass."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter four (I don't really have any notes on this chapter. You get a bit of Jackson's POV finally and there might be a few things unanswered in this chapter but I promise they'll answered so be patient. Enjoy!)

As soon as we got in the hotel room, I'd collapsed on the bed. Jackson watched me as I curled into a ball and turned away from him. I was so tired and confused, I couldn't think straight.

"I'm going to take a shower. Don't even think about making a run for it."

I chose not to reply and shut my eyes tightly. I heard him close the door to the bathroom and turn on the shower. Part of me wanted to smash the door down and scream for help. What the hell did I do to deserve this? Why did he have to terrorise me for a second time? My life had finally got back to normal. I began going out for the first time in years and getting back something that resembled a life. What made it worse was the fact that I had no idea what he wanted me for. I furiously wiped away the tears that had started rolling down my cheeks. The shower had stopped and the door opened slowly. I felt him walk over to my side of the bed, where his bag sat. Wanting him to think I was fast asleep, I lay still, opening my eyes ever so slightly. I nearly gasped out loud when I saw it. He had a towel wrapped around his waist but his top half was bare and there was a huge scar running down the side of his chest. I knew he had scars, he still had one at the base of his throat, but this one was different.

I waited until he was fully clothed before pretending to wake up. Sitting up, I wondered how I could approach it. I cleared my throat and climbed out of the bed so I was facing him.

"Jackson, how did you get that? On your side?" _Subtle Lisa_. I aimed my question at the floor, too scared to look at him. There was an excruciating moment of silence before I got the courage to look at him. When I looked up, he was standing inches away from me, staring down with his jaw clenched. In a second, my chin was gripped in his hand.

"No. More. Questions." I was angry then and stared right back into his eyes, grabbing his arm that was holding my chin.

"No, Jackson. I'm sick of you keeping me in the dark. You followed me for six weeks and you know everything about me. What do I know about you? That you're a murdering psychopath? And now you come straight back in to my life, just as I was moving on and tell me you need me for something then kidnap me! That's not usually how people go about getting someone's help."

"Lisa, you need to calm down." His voice was low and threatening.

"Stop telling me to fucking calm down. This is ridiculous." It was like the rush of adrenaline was making me push him to his limits. I wasn't even scared anymore; all I could feel was hate and anger.

"Look, you're not going to like what I say either way so it won't kill you to wait until tomorrow."

Jackson's POV

She was being impossible. Why couldn't she take no for an answer? She stared at me for a second with wide eyes.

"I give up." She wrenched her chin out of my grasp and went towards the bathroom. A few minutes later, I heard the shower turn on and breathed a sigh of relief. At least I had a few minutes of quiet.

The truth was that I didn't really want to do any of this. The situation with the Keefe's was passed on to someone else in my organisation and after an almighty lecture from my boss; I'd moved on and carried on with my job. A few weeks ago however, my boss called me and asked me to bring Lisa in because he had a job for her. I was shocked. A part of me still felt guilty about what I'd done to her, even though she'd been a complete pain in the ass. I didn't want her dragged in to something new and I sure as hell knew it wasn't going to be easy getting her.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still an assassin. I can turn my emotions off in a second if I want to but there was something about Lisa that was different. She put up a hell of a fight but I kind of felt the need to protect her as well. I collapsed on the bed and led on my back. All I could think about was the car journey and how just before we pulled up she said,

"Please don't hurt me like last time."

Why did she have to say that? I couldn't even think of anything to say back. My words stuck in my throat so we sat in silence. What was I supposed to reply to that? Her voice was overfilling with vulnerability and sadness. But maybe she wanted me to feel guilty so I'd let her go. Well I had a job to do and she wasn't getting in my way this time, guilt or no guilt.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter five (I know the chapters I'm uploading are pretty short but I wanna keep you guys updated frequently. Writing long chapters and uploading regularly is really difficult. Also, I've been re-watching Red Eye a couple of times and I feel like I should explain why Jackson isn't a complete psycho in this story. At some points in the film you can see tiny hints of regret in Jackson. Like when she asks if he's going to kill Keefe's family, he swallows and you can see it in his expression. Also, I can't help but feel like when he sees Lisa's scar and says 'someone do that to you?' his voice is softer and sounds like he's kind of concerned. I really love those moments so yeah and I totally ship them even though they aren't romantically involved at all hahah. Anyway, enjoy this chapter!)

This past couple of hours had been exhausting, physically and emotionally. Jackson had finally convinced me to sleep in the bed with him after a conversation that went something like,

"No."

"Yes.

"No, Jackson."

"Yes, Leese."

The bed wasn't exactly big so we led next to each other with our arms just touching. The silence was uncomfortable. I felt like I had a million things to say but they just wouldn't come to mind. Jackson broke the silence.

"Why haven't you tried to leave?" His voice was soft and curious. I sighed, thinking over the question.

"I don't know. I'm tired of always running." My voice was almost a whisper. Even though it was dark, I could feel him turn on his side to face me. I didn't hear him reply so I closed my eyes and relaxed, quickly falling into a deep sleep.

I woke up the next morning to the sound of the soft murmuring of Jackson talking to someone. I couldn't hear the other side of the conversation so I assumed he was on the phone. I climbed out of bed and saw that it was 9am. My head was pounding and I felt like I'd barely got any sleep. I looked around the room but didn't see Jackson and the voice seemed to be coming from the bathroom. Just as I began heading towards it, the door flung open and Jackson appeared, looking like he was ready to punch someone.

"I'm going for a bit. I need to sort something out. Don't let anyone in, okay?" I nodded numbly but he was out the door and slamming it shut before I could say anything. I felt the sudden urge to cry after seeing the look on his face but I bit my cheek to stop it. I entered the bathroom and splashed from water on my face, running my hands through my hair. I didn't have any stuff with me; he really thought this through didn't he? I couldn't even change out of my work clothes. There was a knock at the door and I hesitated. He did say don't let anyone in, but what if it was important? I made my way to the door and looked through the peephole.

"Who is it?" I shouted through the door.

"Cleaner." I opened the door a crack and stared at the man before me for a second. He had big muscles and was extremely tall, so much so that I had to strain my neck a little to look at his face. He definitely didn't look like a cleaner.

"I think we're go-" I was cut off by him shoving his foot in the door.

"I really think you should let me in lady." I didn't understand what he could possibly want but I shook my head slowly.

"And I really think you should leave." He glared at me for a second with his unusually dark eyes. They weren't bright like Jackson's, they were black and they radiated danger. Before I could do anything, he'd pushed the door back, leaving me stumbling backwards. He grabbed my wrist and twisted me round so that he had his arm round my neck. I desperately tried to pull his arm away but it was pointless, he was way too strong.

"What... do… you… want?" I pushed the question out while trying to gulp down air.

"I want you. I'm showing Jack that you don't belong to him." His voice was snarling and nasty. Belong to him? I didn't know what he was talking about but I was already more scared of him than I'd ever been of Jackson.

"Please… don't. Can't… breathe." He didn't seem to loosen his grip despite my pleading but instead began dragging me towards the door. I stumbled in my work heels. We were out in the hallway now and he looked around, obviously trying to figure out which way to go. Unfortunately, there was an emergency exit about 3 feet away from us. As we were staggered towards it, a loud voice spoke up from behind us.

"What are you doing, Jared?"

"What do you think, Jack?" He spun us around and spat out Jackson's name with so much hate, it made me flinch.

"Let her go. Now."

"You don't own her. She's fair game."

"No, she's not. The boss gave me the job, not you. Now let her go." He still hadn't loosened his grip and I was quickly losing all of the oxygen I had. My knees were buckling and my eyes started flickering. But obviously neither of them noticed, seeing as they continued to have a staring match. Finally, Jackson's eyes flicked to me.

"Look at her, she's going to fucking pass out, Jared." And sure enough, everything began fading away and I went completely limp in his grip.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter six (thanks again for the reviews guys, they make me smile! Enjoy lovelies, this one's pretty dialogue heavy.)

I woke up feeling like I'd been hit by a truck. As I took in my surroundings, I realised I wasn't in the hotel anymore but in the passenger seat of Jackson's car. I groaned loudly, clutching my head while Jackson chuckled quietly in the driver's seat.

"It's not funny." I felt like someone was punching me in the head.

"There's some water and in pills there." He nodded towards the glove box in front of me. I pulled them out as quickly as I could, gulping down two tablets and led back in my seat, closing my eyes.

"They better have been painkillers." He laughed again.

"What you don't trust me, Leese?"

"Nope."

"I'm hurt." He pouted and put a hand on a chest. I just rolled my eyes.

"So what happened to that guy?" Jackson sighed heavily before answering.

"I dealt with him."

"And?"

"And that's it. He won't bother us again." A sudden realisation dawned on me. I quickly turned my gaze on him, mouth hanging open.

"You didn't… kill him, did you?"

"Oh for god's sake. I don't kill everyone that gets in my way, Lisa. You're proof of that."

"You nearly killed me."

"Yeah whatever. We've got a long drive ahead so just go to sleep."

"I think I've slept enough for a lifetime thanks." I turned my gaze back to the window and tried to figure where we could be. Unfortunately, it seemed pretty deserted. Long stretches of road, lack of trees, that kind of scene. I suddenly remembered that I've been gone for a day and my dad would probably be worried.

"Where's my bag? I need to call my dad." He glared at me but handed over my phone. I was surprised. I didn't think he'd give in that easily.

"I trust you." He smirked. I ignored him and dialled the home number. After a couple of rings my dad picked up and I told him a friend asked me to stay for a bit so I wouldn't be home. He'd gone through his 'are you okay?' routine until he was satisfied that I was. I'd hung up and looked at Jackson, who was staring in shock.

"What?"

"No screams for help?" I just shrugged my shoulders. Honestly, I had no idea why I hadn't told my dad and made an attempt to run. But I figured Jackson wasn't going to hurt me and he wasn't hurting anyone else so far so what harm could it do to go with it, at least for now? There was about 10 minutes of silence and we drove along the long stretch of road before Jackson spoke.

"That scar on my side was from a job that went wrong. The mark was like you, impossible. They tried to make a run for it and ended up stabbing me in the side. No big deal."

"Oh. Then why did you get angry when I asked?"

"I don't need you knowing stuff like that. Makes the whole thing harder. But seeing as it's pretty damn hard anyway, why not."

Why was it hard? I'd been pretty passive considering the situation. Suddenly I felt myself not wanting to exist. To just disappear right there in that smooth leather seat and not come back. I don't know what it was about what he said that made me feel so overwhelmingly sad but it did and I didn't know what to do. So I did the thing that everyone does when they're sad and confused; I cried. Well, I sobbed. I put my hands to my face and before I knew it, waterfalls of tears were pouring out of my eyes and down my cheeks. It was quiet at first and I'd turned to face the window, so Jackson didn't really notice. And as I sat there, movie-style sobbing, I realised how alone I'd been since everything had happened. It was like my life had stopped but everything around me kept on moving and I was left with this inconsolable ache. All the things I'd been missing out on because my fear kept hitting me like a full speed train. After a couple of minutes, I was wailing which meant that Jackson noticed. What I hadn't noticed however, was how quickly he'd screeched the car to a stop. I still didn't notice when he climbed out of the car and pulled my door open. Only when he yanked my hands from my face, was I forced to look at him. Before I knew it, he'd pulled me into a hug and I was clinging to his shirt, crying into his shoulder.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter seven (guys, this story has reached 1,000 views omg thank you everyone for reading and reviewing and everything bless you all. Also I'm so sorry for not updating in ages and this chapter is really short but it was my birthday last week and I'm back to sixth form now etc so please forgive me the next will be better I promise.)

The crying seemed to go on for a lifetime. I was constantly aware that I should probably pull away and apologise for his damp shoulder but the warmth from his arms was so comforting. When I did finally choose to pull away, he grabbed some tissues from the car and passed them to me. I smiled weakly in response, wiping my eyes.

"You hungry?" I wasn't expecting that. I thought I'd be bombarded with a million questions or some sarcastic quip. But then, Jackson never did anything I expected.

"Yeah I suppose." I hadn't really thought about it but I realised I was incredibly hungry. I hadn't eaten since last night. He nodded and went back round to the driver's side.

We drove for a while before we came across a café place next to a service station. When we were inside, we ordered breakfast and coffee and ate in silence. I glanced at him every so often whilst we ate, waiting for a question, anything. There was nothing, hardly even a look in my direction. Nevertheless, I noticed that he looked deep in thought; maybe he just couldn't find a way to word what he wanted to say. I was staring down into my mug of coffee, somewhat hypnotised by the movement of the coffee. I must have been really tired. I didn't notice his eyes boring into me until he cleared his throat. I snapped my head up, most likely looking completely spaced out. His eyebrows scrunched together while he looked at me.

"No one usually cries like that." What? A look of confusion flashed across my face. "I mean the ones that I have to use to get what I need. When they cry, it's kind of weak, you know? Like they're hoping that somehow someone will save them and they won't have to do what I asked in the end. I guess it's kind of a sick hope. But when people cry like that, it's like they've resigned themselves to the fact that no one can save them but themselves. Or they've just given up." His eyes looked so sad.

And it suddenly struck me how true what he'd just said was. I sipped on my coffee, choosing to take my time in answering him.

"I'm sorry-"

"No, it's okay." I cut him off immediately. Why was he apologising? I guess that's what I'd kind of admired about him ever since we met, the insight he had. The way he could read what you were thinking or he knew exactly what you felt without you even saying it. That's why I could never truly believe the psychotic impression he made on me.

"I think you're right. I think I have given up." He sighed quietly.

"Look, where I work is about 10 minutes away. Why don't we go and get this over with? And then I'll take you home and walk out of your life, I promise." Without leaving me time to protest, he got up and paid for the food before gesturing for me to follow him. I went to bathroom quickly and returned to the car. Just like he told me, it took us 10 minutes to arrive at the daunting building that I assumed was his 'work'. The building was huge, modern and made of glass. I rolled my eyes. Sure, I worked at the Lux Atlantic. It was huge and slightly pretentious but I just hated buildings like this. Big monstrosities obnoxiously plonked in the middle of some wasteland and built from miserable grey brick. While I stared open-mouthed, my neck stretching upwards, Jackson was already storming through the giant glass doors. I hurried to catch up with him, my heels clacking on the hard glossy floors. The woman behind the desk regarded me slowly as Jackson gave her a nod, heading towards the elevator. I let my hair fall in front of my face, my cheeks turns an embarrassing shade of pink. _I don't want to be here._


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter eight (Sorry it's been so long haha, kind of abandoned this story! I felt bad for people who liked it so I wrote another short-ish chapter. Enjoy.)

After several minutes in uncomfortable silence, the elevator stopped on the bottom floor. I already had an uneasy feeling in my stomach and arriving in the basement hadn't relieved my nerves. The doors slid open revealing a reception area like the one that we had come into, except this one wasn't quite so sleek. It was dark and ominous. The walls were a dubious shade of green and the paint was peeling off the walls. I expected guards of some kind but the room was eerily empty. Jackson, clearly having been here a million times before, headed to the door directly in front of us. I followed blindly, not wanting to be left behind. We passed through the door into a hallway with more doors lining the sides. I thought it was pretty odd but we carried on regardless. Soon we had been through about five different doors and I was getting anxious. What were all the doors for? It seemed pretty unnecessary.

I cleared my throat. "Uh, Jackson?" He hardly even flinched.

"What?"

"Why so many doors?"

"No questions."

And I was stupid enough to think that he was getting nicer. I rolled my eyes. Finally we reached a larger than normal door with an elaborate lock next to the handle and a device that required a code. I figured we'd reached this bosses office and the nerves that had been replaced with annoyance previously, returned with a purpose. Jackson pressed a button, declared his name and punched in several numbers. The door unlocked with a loud click and he pushed through it, revealing a large, dark room. There was a desk and a hefty leather chair with it's back facing us. As the door clunked shut behind us, the chair slowly swung around and sitting in it was a middle-aged man. He was wearing a suit and had grey-ish colour hair. His chubby fingers held several gold rings.

"Jackson." He smirked, showing off his yellowing teeth.

"You've got to be kidding me." I murmured under my breath. It was so cliché I could have laughed. I was half expected him to say, "I've been expecting you" or something. He must have heard me because suddenly his creepy gaze settled on me. I looked at the floor and could feel Jackson's glaring eyes on me as well.

"You must be Lisa." Even though I wasn't looking, I could tell he'd gotten up from his chair and was making his way towards me. I shuffled back subtly, not wanting to be anywhere near him. Jackson had a different idea I guess, seeing as he placed his hand on my lower back and shoved me back forward roughly. The man, whose name I still didn't know, extended his hand towards me.

"Robert Fisher. Jackson's boss."

I turned my gaze from the floor, up to him. He was a lot more intimidating up front. Not wanting to look like a coward, however, I reached my hand out slowly.

"Lisa Reisert. But you knew that anyway, right?" He laughed quietly and returned to his seat. Jackson sighed, probably rolling his eyes.

"Take a seat." He gestured towards the chairs that were placed in front of his desk. As Jackson and I sat down, Robert Fisher reached into his drawer and pulled out a cigar. He lit it and relaxed into his seat, closing his eyes for a second. I never really saw the appeal of cigars, or cigarettes for that matter. I couldn't imagine getting any pleasure from them whatsoever. His eyes snapped back open quickly.

"Oh sorry, how rude of me. Cigar?" He gestured towards the both of us. I shook my head slowly. Jackson cleared his throat.

"No, thanks."

"Suit yourselves." He took another drag and stared at me as he blew out the smoke.

"So, how are you doing Lisa?" His tone was almost sincere but it was impossible to miss the mocking.

"Enough of the shit, why am I here?" Maybe it was the smirk that pushed me off the edge but my patience was quickly wearing thin.

His eyes widened towards Jackson. "Feisty."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9 (a random update as I'm sad and this story cheers me up)

"Well," Robert took a second to inhale the smoke from his cigar. "I have a little problem. One that I wouldn't have if it wasn't for you." The smirk on his face didn't budge. Of course, I knew what he was talking about immediately but chose to remain nonchalant. He stared expectantly but I just shrugged my shoulders.

"Oh come on Lisa, don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about now." He shook his head and pouted. His teasing manner made my stomach turn.

"Charles Keefe!" I flinched at the intensity of his tone. He grabbed a remote control from his desk and quickly pressed one of the buttons, aiming at the screen placed on the wall. The picture appeared and it showed Charles Keefe making a speech about something or another. I didn't want to look or listen. I'd saved that guy's life but I didn't particularly care for him. Robert rose from his seat and walked to the screen. His face was inches from it when he said, "That's my problem, Lisa." I hated the way he said my name. It reminded me of Jackson on the flight, the way he pronounced every letter. But Jackson said it differently, like it had significance, importance. Robert, however, said it like I was simply a glitch in his plans. Which was true, I guess. Now, my patience wasn't exactly at an all time high when I walked in that room but I was getting sick of his dramatics.

"Look, I get it. Will you just get to the point? I really don't have time for this." I placed a hand on my hip and again felt Jackson's eyes on me. I turned to look at him and was surprised to find he wasn't glaring. He had an odd look in his eyes… something like admiration? I mentally scolded myself. _He tried to kill you, idiot. _Turning my attention back to Robert, I found him standing in front of me.

"Because of you I have an unhappy client on my hands, not to mention the money I lost. I don't like losing money, Lisa. Now, I need you and Jackson to go back and get the job done, before my reputation is tarnished. Okay?" That sickly smile was back on his face.

"Are you joking? I didn't save that him and his family for nothing you know. Besides, how many men do you have working for you? I'm sure someone else could do it." This was ridiculous. I looked to Jackson for support but I just got a blank stare. When I turned back to Robert, he was already settled back in his chair, cigar hanging from his mouth. He looked up absentmindedly before gesturing to Jackson. At this, Jackson grabbed my upper arm and pulled me towards the door. Despite my struggling, I knew from experience that Jackson was much stronger than me. We were out the door in a couple of seconds and my protests amounted to nothing, of course.

"Jackson!" We were already storming through door after door of the ridiculous maze we were in. "Jackson, I don't understand. We're not seriously going to kill Keefe? I thought…"

"Lisa, just wait until we're in the car please. This place is crawling with his men." What difference did that make? Finally we made it outside and Jackson released me, but not before giving me a warning glance. I shrugged my shoulders, showing him that I wasn't going to run. Clearly content with my gesture, he clicked open the car and climbed in the driver's side. I rolled my eyes, still such a gentlemen.

As if reading my mind, Jackson spoke up, "Don't be a drama queen; you can open a damn door by yourself."

"Whatever." Only about an hour ago, Jackson had promised that he would walk out of my life after this. So why wasn't he more shocked by what Robert said? Or had he known and lied to me? I turned in my seat to face him as he started up the engine. "So?"

His beautiful eyes settled on me. What? He had beautiful eyes. "So what?" I scoffed.

"What's going on?" He closed his eyes for a second before pulling out of the parking space and heading towards the gate. He took a deep breath, obviously thinking over what he was going to tell me.

"I don't know, Leese. I thought he would just warn you or something. Like tell you to get out of the country, okay? I also thought the job had been passed onto someone else." He pressed his fingers to his temple and rubbed. I kind of felt bad for minute, he seemed under a lot of stress and having me probably wasn't helping.

Jackson's POV

My brain was spinning. Even though I hadn't shown it in front of Lisa, I was just as confused as her. Why had I been assigned the job again? My boss had made it clear I was a liability. As well as confusion, I couldn't help feeling immense guilt. I didn't want Lisa involved in this anymore. The longer we spent together, the more I realised how much I'd missed her since the last time I saw her. It sounds insane, considering the terms we parted on but she was still the same brilliant, strong Lisa. The one who got away. I liked to keep an eye on her while we drove. She'd always be doing something; gazing at the clouds, humming to the radio or fiddling with her hair. She seemed to have relaxed in my company, which was unusual. I had taken her hostage after all. I noticed she'd twisted in her seat to face me again.

"Where's Keefe now? Do you know?" I shook my head.

"That's why we're heading to my apartment so I can find out." I watched her closely for her reaction but other than a quick flash of surprise, she seemed unfazed. The thought of having Lisa in my 'home' was strange but exciting. I quickly shook it out of my head though as those thoughts tended to turn into thoughts of having Lisa in my bed.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10 (hey guys, sorry it's been a while. This chapter was really difficult for me so sorry if it's terrible. Hope you enjoy )

It had been a long drive back to wherever Jackson lived. Not that I experienced any of it seeing as I fell asleep within about 5 minutes. Why was I so tired all the time? Jackson gently shook my arm the moment we arrived and I groggily opened my eyes to see where we had ended up. I opened them to see a fairly large block of apartments; I could tell it was expensive because a vast majority of it was made up of glass. Any notion of being impressed was gone when I remembered how he managed to pay to live in a place like this. I could see Jackson nervously checking my reaction in the corner of my eye. Unsmiling, I turned to face him and simply shrugged my shoulders. Acting blasé and unbothered seemed to be the only way to cope with what was running through my head. The happy escape of sleep had stopped me routinely going through what had happened when we had met with Jackson's boss. Everything was done with so quickly and I had no say in the matter. Why would his boss want me involved in an assassination? I wasn't an employee and surely I'd proved that I couldn't be trusted.

I shook my head, hoping to get some answers once we were in Jackson's apartment. Though, I wasn't sure if he _had_ any answers. Even though he tried to disguise it, he looked just about as confused as I was. During my thought process, Jackson had got out of the car and to my surprise, was holding my door open for me. I blinked up at him in the dim late evening lighting.

"Will you hurry up? We don't have forever, woman." He scowled and made a gesture towards the door, signalling me to get out.

"Charming as always." I rolled my eyes and stalked towards the entrance of the apartment block, hearing him shut the car door a little harder than necessary and probably making an obscene gesture behind my back.

Once we got to door, he unlocked it and went inside; threw his leather jacket on the couch and absentmindedly said something like 'make yourself at home'. What was wrong with him? The tension between us was oppressive. The apartment didn't look exactly homely and I wandered in reluctantly. To my surprise there were a few picture frames lined neatly on the mantelpiece. Curiously overpowered me and I walked up to inspect them. They all seemed to be from when he was a lot younger; the first one he looked around 6 and he was stood with a little blonde girl, his sister? The second one looked like a family photo with his mum, dad and sister all there and the last one was just a photo of his mum and dad together. It wasn't hard to guess why there wasn't any recent ones; it wasn't exactly plausible for Jackson to have a girlfriend, who would want to be with someone with a job like that? _And here you are, Lisa. _It's not like this was exactly romantic though. Having said that, I couldn't help feeling things towards Jackson that I never thought was possible before he had appeared in my life for the second time. Every instinct in me was telling me that I shouldn't even be here. It was ridiculous; I get out of this apartment now if I wanted. Jackson had clearly stopped being bothered about me and was off-guard. So why wasn't I running hell for leather right out of that apartment and finding some way of being home, of being safe? Safe. I'd forgotten the meaning of the word. After I met Jackson, I realised being safe was just an illusion. I heard him abruptly clearing his throat behind me, interrupting my reverie.

"Find anything of interest?" I spun around quickly hearing the sharp tone of his voice.

"Yeah, actually." I moved to the side so he could see the frames behind me. "Is this your family?" There was no point in being subtle with Jackson.

"I don't want to talk about that. We have stuff to do." He turned around and went to pick up his laptop which was lying on the kitchen side. Anger flared inside of me.

"Why does everything have to be on your terms? I barely know a single fucking thing about you yet you know everything about me, even the way I have my eggs in the morning. Doesn't that strike you as a little unfair, _Jack_?" I slurred nastily as I said the name that he hated so much. "There's nothing keeping me here, you know. I could walk out of that door and you'd never see me again." I was so lost in a flurry of rage that I hadn't noticed Jackson advancing on me from the other side of the room. "I don't care if I'd have to move to fucking Alaska, you would never-" I was stopped mid-sentence by Jackson's lips crashing onto mine. My hands instinctively went up to his chest but instead of pushing away, I decided to kiss him back. His kiss was rough and urgent, his hands slipped around my waist and he pressed me hard against him. My arms snaked around his neck, pulling him impossibly closer. He picked me up and placed me on the desk against the wall, planting tentative kisses down my neck and along my shoulder. My breathing quickened as he placed a hand on my waist under my top. We stayed like that for a while, making out like reckless high school kids. I'd never felt so alive.


End file.
